British Open: Dark horse candidates to raise the Claret Jug

Shane Lowry – 66/1

Lowry doesn’t always make the cut at tournaments that he plays in. Through 11 events this season, he has only made the cut in 6 of them. Check out his finishes though, especially over the last five events.

T-3rd, Cut, T-8th, T-2nd, T-28th

That’s three top-tens in the last five events he has played in. Included in there is the PGA Championship (T-8th), where he rebounded astoundingly well from a rough first day. After shooting 75, he ripped off rounds of 69-68-69.

It’s a decent jump to make, but if Lowry would’ve shot par 70 on opening day, he would’ve finished in third by himself, four shots back of Koepka and two shots back of D.J.

Lowry doesn’t have enough rounds on the PGA Tour this year to have his SG stats rank, with only 25 rounds played. If he did have enough, his putting would stand out as being quite good. At .562, that would place him 13th in SG putting this season.

He’s decent around the green as well, where his .202 SG would rank 43rd. He has struggled on approach shots, where his number of -.048 would be T-129th. He isn’t great off the tee either, with his .040 coming in at T-106th.

As long as Lowry can play decent to start the hole, you know he is going to finish them strong. That’s why I like my fellow Irishman as a dark horse at the British Open this week.